Saturday, December 14, 2013

What I've Learned From Capture The Flag

Games are a natural
part of the lives of everyone. Sometimes we don’t always see them, but they are
always there. People also sometimes try to make daily events or activities into
games so they become more bearable and less insufferable, such as making a race
out of who can finish a job first. Usually, games teach us how to solve a
problem (the best ones teach us to do so in more than one way). That problem usually
stands in the way of a goal, unless of course the goal is to solve said
problem. I have learned a lot from games of all kinds when it has come to
solving problems but today I am going to talk about a famous game- capture the
flag.

This is definitely
one of my favorite outdoor games to play, because it relies more on mental
strategy than physical capability. When someone takes off from the center of
the field into the opposing team’s side, the other team is immediately alerted
and breaks into action, most likely stopping the intruder. My personal strategy
in this game is to appear as if I’m not playing at all. I just slowly make my
way to the other side of the playing area and casually walk over to the other
team’s side. As soon as the opportunity arises, I then take off in the
direction of the flag and hopefully make it back. I have found that this
strategy is incredibly efficient. The best way to defeat an enemy is to not
have them recognize you as their enemy at all. This is a game that has really
taught me to play smart, not hard. Playing a physical game physically is a fine
way to play a game, but the ultimate way to conquer is to bring water to a firefight.

Another thing I’ve learned from capture the flag is that sacrifices are
sometimes necessary and that sometimes you have to cut down a tree to save the
forest. Not everyone can carry the flag back into home territory; however the
people who aren’t doing that job can serve as distractions and block the team
from the person with the flag, like a team would do in football. From this part
of the game, I learned that all of your resources are valuable, no matter how
much you have. You just need to figure out the smartest way to use them.--Rudolph